Dear John,

No one can afford to live on $7.25 an hour, or about $15,000 a year, wherever you live in the country. And yet this is the current federal minimum wage: well below what’s considered the official poverty line: $23,000 for a family of three.

It has been almost 15 years since the minimum wage was raised, yet the cost of living has increased every year. It has resulted in a ballooning of poverty in America nationwide. (Mind you, billionaire wealth has quadrupled over the same time period.)

The unemployment rate is at historic lows, but how many jobs are good jobs? How many are jobs that the average American worker can live on?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women, with Black and Latina women heavily over-represented among these under-compensated workers. Now, imagine the struggle for the 52 million people in the U.S., including over 11 million single parents, who currently make less than $15 an hour.

We’ve been fighting for years, but we can’t give up. A basic wage should be a living wage and we must keep pressuring Congress to make it happen. Tell Congress to raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour now.

The benefits of raising the minimum wage will be felt throughout society in communities nationwide.

Forty million workers, over a quarter of the workforce, would immediately benefit from an increased paycheck. It would make a huge difference to the poorest working families to see their weekly income more than double, from $290 a week to $600 a week, bringing them over the poverty line in exchange for full time work.

The benefits of a $15 minimum wage would be felt by all workers, but especially by women and people of color. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 39% of Black and Latina women would benefit from the raise, versus 18% of white men; and over 32% of women workers would benefit, versus 22% of men overall.

It would pump another $120 billion back into the economy increasing consumer spending and demand, and enabling more hiring and higher retention of employees as well.

Raising the minimum wage is a political winner, too. For the last 20 years, every time it’s appeared on a statewide ballet, it’s won. Every. Single. Time. And polling backs it up, showing three-quarters of Americans are in favor of increasing the minimum wage, including the majority of Republicans.

All workers deserve to make a living wage. Don’t let Congress ignore this critical issue. Sign and send a message to your members of Congress now.

We have to face the facts. Low-wage workers are not sharing in the benefits of increased productivity.

According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, if the minimum wage had kept up with productivity since it was last raised, it would now be around $24 an hour.

$24 an hour. That’s obviously not $7.25... and that’s not even $15. That’s why we fight for at least $15. The reality is workers deserve much more.

After all, the gap between CEO and the average worker pay has ballooned over the last 30 years. It’s grown from an already high 59 to 1 to an outrageous ratio of 361 to 1.

Now take a deep breath, and let’s compare CEO pay with the minimum wage. The gap becomes a gaping chasm of 1,400 to 1.

MAGA Republicans like to talk about delivering for the working class. They claim to be on the side of workers. It’s time to make them prove it. Send your message to Congress now.

The fight taking on income inequality requires that we never give up. It requires focus and determination. It requires all of us working together and demanding action.

It requires we keep fighting until we win. Thank you for speaking up today.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action